Alfie Agnew

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Alfie Agnew
Alfie Agnew.jpg
Agnew performing live at The Observatory, in 2014
Background information
Birth nameAlfonso F. Agnew
Born (1969-01-24) January 24, 1969 (age 54)
Origin Fullerton, California, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • professor
Instrument(s)
  • Vocals
  • guitar

Alfonso F. "Alfie" Agnew (born January 24, 1969) is an American mathematician, singer, musician and songwriter. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Agnew is best known for being a member of the punk bands the Adolescents and D.I. as well as the group Professor and the Madman. Alfie's brothers Rikk Agnew and Frank Agnew are also former Adolescents guitarists.

Contents

Early years

Alfonso F. Agnew was born on January 24, 1969, to Richard Francis Agnew Sr and Lia Agnew. He was born into a musical family, half Irish-American and half Mexican-American. In 1972, his parents moved from La Puente to Fullerton, California. In an interview with By the Barricade he recalled, "I was the youngest brother in a sequence of brother musicians so when I arrived on the scene, drumsticks were put in my hand and I was "required" to be a musician. That is how I got into it." [1]

Academic career

Agnew settled on physics and mathematics as a career and put his musical activities on hold to attend college immediately after high school. He graduated from Cal State Fullerton, completed a PhD in Mathematical Physics at Oregon State University and did post doctoral work at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Afterward, he became a full professor in mathematics at Cal State Fullerton, and also a faculty member in the Gravitational Wave Physics and Astronomy Center (GWPAC). [2] As part of his research activities, Agnew has published a number of technical papers in the fields of Analysis, Differential Geometry, General Relativity Theory and Cosmology, and the History of Mathematics. [3]

In January 2019, he became the chair of the math department at CSUF. [4]

Musical career

Agnew began playing in bands at about the age of 11. His first band was called the Attack, where he played drums and wrote all their lyrics and music. He started Almost 21 in his first year of high school with Jay McCarty on vocals, himself on guitar and vocals, Hal Hughes on guitar, Tom Hughes on bass guitar, and John Knight on drums. Almost 21 released a demo as a 7" vinyl on Gummopunx. [2]

When Agnew was about 15, his band Almost 21 was breaking up, while D.I. was going through line-up changes. Agnew, John Knight and John "Bosco" Calabro from Almost 21 joined D.I. in 1983, [5] "Ancient Artifacts", "Horse Bites Dog Cries", Team Goon, and "Live at a Dive" were released while Agnew was in the band.

Around 1986, the Adolescents began working on a return with the original line-up, but Frank Agnew left the project and Alfie Agnew replaced him. He played with the band for several months, recording guitars and backing vocals on the second Adolescents album, Brats in Battalions, before leaving to attend to university work. [2]

In 2012, John Knight, Bosco Calabro, Alfie Agnew, Jeff Milucky and Mark Tolbert recorded a number of Crash Kills Four and Almost 21 songs for a project called "A Raincoat, Shoes, and Pornographic Blues". The recording was originally released as a download, but Gummopunx later released a special 12" vinyl version that included three new songs. This line-up also played several shows in Southern California. Agnew and Sean Elliott also played with Rikk Agnew in the Detours, a band formed originally in the late '70s. [2]

Agnew's primary musical project since 2015 has been Professor and the Madman, which he formed with Elliott after they got back together for a reunion show with their cover band, The Critens. Rat Scabies of The Damned joined Professor in 2016 and as a trio they recorded their first two albums. The Damned's Paul Gray joined in 2017. Their first album as a quartet was Disintegrate Me, released in February 2018, [6] and their first live appearance in August of that year. They released a live album, Live at the 100 Club, in January 2019. [7] Their fourth studio album, Séance, was released in November 2020. [8]

Personal life

Agnew has three older siblings, Rikk, Toni (sister) and Frank. He also has a half-brother Jim and a half-sister Beverly who are older than Rikk. [2] He has been married to Victoria Agnew [9] (née Nichols) since 2004.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolescents (band)</span> American punk rock band

The Adolescents are an American punk rock band formed in Fullerton, California in 1980. Part of the hardcore punk movement in southern California in the early 1980s, they were one of the main punk acts to emerge from Orange County, along with their peers in Agent Orange and Social Distortion. Founding bassist Steve Soto was the sole constant member of the band since its inception until his 2018 death, with singer Tony Reflex being in the group for all but one album.

<i>Adolescents</i> (album) 1981 studio album by the Adolescents

Adolescents, also known as The Blue Album due to its cover design, is the debut studio album by American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in April 1981 on Frontier Records. Recorded after guitarist Rikk Agnew and drummer Casey Royer joined the band, it features several songs written for their prior group, the Detours, including "Kids of the Black Hole" and "Amoeba", which became two of the Adolescents' most well-known songs. Adolescents was one of the first hardcore punk albums to be widely distributed throughout the United States, and became one of the best-selling California hardcore albums of its time. The band never toured in support of it, and broke up four months after its release. The Blue Album lineup of Agnew, Royer, guitarist Frank Agnew, bassist Steve Soto and singer Tony Brandenburg reunited several times in subsequent years, but only for brief periods.

D.I. is an American punk rock band formed in 1981 in Fullerton, California. It was founded by vocalist and primary songwriter Casey Royer, after previously playing drums in the bands Adolescents and Social Distortion.

<i>Brats in Battalions</i> 1987 studio album by the Adolescents

Brats in Battalions is the second studio album by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in August 1987 on SOS Records, the band's independent record label. It followed a reunion of the band after a five-year breakup, and subsequent lineup changes which saw drummer Casey Royer and original guitarist Frank Agnew replaced, respectively, by Sandy Hanson of the Mechanics and by Agnew's younger brother, Alfie Agnew. Brats in Battalions explores several styles of punk rock and features new recordings of all three songs from 1981's Welcome to Reality EP, as well as cover versions of the traditional folk song "The House of the Rising Sun" and the Stooges' "I Got a Right". Singer Tony Brandenburg left the band after this album, and the Adolescents recorded one more album without him, 1988's Balboa Fun*Zone, before breaking up for another 12 years.

<i>Return to the Black Hole</i> 1997 live album by the Adolescents

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rikk Agnew</span> American musician

Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. He has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk genre, as well as the influential deathrock band Christian Death. During his years with the Adolescents, Agnew became known as one of the best guitarists in the Southern California hardcore punk scene.

Francis Thomas "Frank" Agnew is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a member of punk rock band the Adolescents. Frank's brothers Rikk Agnew and Alfie Agnew, as well as his son Frank Agnew Jr., are also former Adolescents guitarists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Soto</span> Musical artist

Steve Soto was an American musician. Soto was a multi-talented instrumentalist, a founding member of California punk rock band Agent Orange in 1979, and a founding member of Adolescents in 1980 performing on bass guitar in both bands. Soto was also a member of Legal Weapon, Joyride, Manic Hispanic and the punk supergroup 22 Jacks. Soto fronted his own band, Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts and he also became a member of Punk Rock Karaoke in 2001.

<i>Ancient Artifacts</i> 1985 studio album by D.I.

Ancient Artifacts is D.I.'s first full-length studio album, which was released in 1985. "Hang Ten in East Berlin" and "Spiritual Law" were later re-recorded on the band's second album, Horse Bites Dog Cries, which was released in 1986. "O.C. Life" was later covered by Zebrahead, which was a bonus track for the Orange County OST and The Offspring as a bonus track for their Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace album. O.C. Life was originally written by Rikk Agnew of the Adolescents and appeared on his solo album All By Myself in 1982.

<i>Horse Bites Dog Cries</i> 1986 studio album by D.I.

Horse Bites Dog Cries is the second studio album by the American punk rock band D.I. It was originally released in 1986, on the label Reject. The album was recorded at Casbah Studios in Fullerton, California in 1985 with Chaz Ramirez. Due to a typo on the album itself, many fans believe that it was released in 1985, but this appears to be false because its release was delayed until 1986 to avoid confusion with the band's then-current album Ancient Artifacts. Horse Bites Dog Cries was the final album featuring the Agnew brothers and drummer John Knight.

<i>D.I.</i> (EP) 1983 EP by D.I.

D.I. is the eponymously titled debut EP by the American hardcore punk band D.I., released in 1983 through Revenge Records. It was recorded by the band's early lineup of Casey Royer, Rikk Agnew, Tim Maag, Derek O'Brien, Steve Roberts, and Frederic Taccone. The EP was re-released in 1987 by Triple X Records as Team Goon with four additional tracks: The first three—"Nuclear Funeral", "The Saint", and a cover version of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part II"—were recorded by the band's mid-1980s lineup of Royer, John Bosco, Steve Garcia, and brothers Rikk and Alfie Agnew, while the fourth—a cover version of Devo's "Uncontrollable Urge"—was recorded by the late-1980s lineup of Royer, Bosco, Steve Drt, Sean Elliott, and Hedge.

<i>Balboa Fun*Zone</i> 1988 studio album by the Adolescents

Balboa Fun*Zone is the third studio album by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in 1988 on Triple X Records. Titled after the Balboa Fun Zone amusement area of Balboa Peninsula, Newport Beach, it is the band's only album recorded without singer Tony Brandenburg, who had left the group the prior year. Electing not to replace him, guitarist Rikk Agnew and bassist Steve Soto alternated lead vocals on Balboa Fun*Zone. The album also features the return of original Adolescents guitarist Frank Agnew, who had been absent from their prior album, 1987's Brats in Battalions. Balboa Fun*Zone is also the final Adolescents studio album to include Rikk Agnew and drummer Sandy Hanson. The band broke up in April 1989, reuniting in later years with different lineups.

<i>OC Confidential</i> 2005 studio album by the Adolescents

OC Confidential is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in July 2005 on Finger Records. It was their first studio album since 1988, and followed their reunion in 2001 after a twelve-year breakup. The album features founding band members Tony Reflex, Frank Agnew, and Steve Soto, joined by drummer Derek O'Brien. It was the final Adolescents album to include Agnew, and their only studio album with O'Brien.

<i>All by Myself</i> (Rikk Agnew album) 1982 studio album by Rikk Agnew

All by Myself is the debut solo studio album by the American multi-instrumentalist Rikk Agnew. It was originally released in October 1982, on the label Frontier. It was produced by Agnew, and co-produced by the then-Adolescents producer Thom Wilson. Agnew played all the instruments on the album. The band D.I., which Agnew joined in 1983, included cover versions of the songs "O.C. Life", and "Falling Out" from this album for their debut album, Ancient Artifacts, which was released in 1985.

The discography of the Adolescents, a Southern California-based punk rock band, consists of ten studio albums, three live albums, one compilation album, six EPs, two singles, and one video album.

<i>Welcome to Reality</i> (EP) 1981 EP by the Adolescents

Welcome to Reality is an EP by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in October 1981 on Frontier Records. Recorded after guitarist Rikk Agnew left the group, it was their only release recorded with guitarist Steve Roberts. The band broke up in August 1981, and when the EP was released two months later it was not well received. When the Adolescents re-formed five years later, a new lineup re-recorded all three songs from Welcome to Reality for their reunion album, 1987's Brats in Battalions.

<i>Live 1981 & 1986</i> Album by Adolescents

Live 1981 & 1986 is a live album by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in 1989 on Triple X Records. It consists of live performances recorded during the band's original 1980–81 run and during their 1986 reunion.

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Live at the House of Blues is a live album and concert film by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in February 2004 on Kung Fu Records as part of the label's The Show Must Go Off! series. It marked a reunion of the band after a twelve-year breakup, and features songs from their original 1980–81 run and from their then-upcoming reunion album OC Confidential (2005).

<i>The Complete Demos 1980–1986</i> 2005 compilation album by the Adolescents

The Complete Demos 1980–1986 is a compilation album of demo recordings by the American punk rock band the Adolescents, released in March 2005 on Frontier Records. It includes the band's first three demo tapes, recorded between March and July 1980; one outtake from the recording sessions for their 1981 EP Welcome to Reality; and two songs recorded during their 1986 reunion as demos for their second album, Brats in Battalions (1987). The first eight tracks are the only material recorded by the Adolescents' original lineup, which included guitarist John O'Donovan and drummer Peter Pan. The remaining tracks include their replacements Rikk Agnew and Casey Royer.

Professor and the Madman is a four-piece American rock band featuring co-frontmen/songwriters Alfie Agnew and Sean Elliott, drummer Rat Scabies and bassist Paul Gray. Agnew had been in the punk bands Adolescents and D.I. and Elliott had played guitar in D.I. Scabies and Gray were the rhythm section of The Damned, and they appeared together on a pair of The Damned's studio albums: The Black Album (1980) and Strawberries (1982). Gray also played in Eddie and the Hot Rods and UFO.

References

  1. ↑ Proctor, Susan (August 7, 2014). "Crash Kills Four Interview" . Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Alfie Agnew Speaks". December 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Agnew, Alfonso F." Archived from the original on May 9, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  4. ↑ Longtime University Donors Commit to $10 Million Gift of Titan Proportions, CSUF News Center, February 29, 2020, retrieved September 24, 2020
  5. ↑ Interviews: DI, Punknews.org, retrieved August 28, 2015
  6. ↑ Callwood, Brett (February 21, 2018). "SCHOOL'S IN SESSION WITH PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN". LA Weekly. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  7. ↑ Astrocreep, DJ (October 20, 2018). "The BIG Über Rock Interview – Sean Elliott (Professor And The Madman)". Uber Rock. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  8. ↑ Crandle, Tom (June 24, 2020). "News: Rat Scabies and Paul Gray Return with Professor and the Madman". New Noise Magazine. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  9. ↑ Hammer, Janet E. (June 2020). "Professor And The Madman New Music For The New Year From Some Old Pro's". PunkGlobe. Retrieved October 2, 2020.
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